The JAX Chamber board of directors announced April 16 it unanimously passed a resolution asking the Duval County School Board to change the names of six public schools that are named after Confederate soldiers.
“This is an economic development issue,” JAX Chamber Chair Henry Brown, who serves as president and CEO of Miller Electric, said in the news release.
“We are asking companies to invest here, and for top talent to move and live here. We say that we are open to everyone and I believe that we are. But, right now, we have six school names that tell African Americans otherwise.”
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When Mincy Pollock made a pitch to other African-American business owners about joining him as a JAX Chamber member, the response typically was a dismissive why bother shrug.
As much as Pollock sees the chamber as a valuable way for growing his two small businesses Florida Care Insurance and Pollock Group he could understand the skepticism. When I go to the (chamber) meetings, a lot of times, as my grandma would say, I m a fly in a glass of milk, he said. I would go and I would talk to other business owners about Hey, you really should be connected with the chamber, and they have said in the past, It doesn t look like we fit. I don t know if they want us.
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